AdGooroo releases travel and retail keyword results after Google’s right rail ad change

AdGooroo has released its second look at the impact of Google eliminating text ads in the right rail on desktop search results. The two analyses — one on retail keywords, another on travel keywords — tell similar stories: a reduction in the number of advertisers competing in the auctions, slight increases in cost per click (CPC) on average, but big swings at the individual keyword level.

Across the set of top 20 travel keywords, AdGooroo monitors — comparing February 1–18 to February 19–March 28 — the number of advertisers bidding per keyword fell 15.4 percent, from an average of 38 advertisers bidding per keyword to an average of 32. The average CPC among the top 20 keywords increased by just three cents, on average (5.2 percent), from $2.65 to $2.68. That said, there was wide variation in performance at the individual keyword level. For contrast, note that “cancun all inclusive” CPC rose 35 percent, and “car rentals” rose 34 percent.

On the whole, click-through rates increased 10 percent across the top 20 travel keywords. Just one keyword (“river cruises”) saw a slight decline of 3.3 percent in CTR.

In its earlier analysis of the top 20 retail keywords earlier this month — comparing February 1–18 to February 19–March 8 — AdGooroo found that competition was cut by 27 percent. The average CPC rose seven percent, with 14 out of 20 keywords seeing increases. However, again, several keywords saw significant decreases in CPC: “mobile phone” was off by 26 percent, “shoes” fell by 14 percent. Then there was the outlier, “samsung galaxy 26,” which rose by 108 percent.

Meanwhile, looking across 2,500 retail keywords, the average CPC increased just 1.8 percent, while the number of advertisers competing fell by 42 percent since the change went into effect.